Not So Shocking: AEDs Improve Survival from Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest

An increase in survival with good neurological outcome among Dutch patients with shockable cardiac arrest was attributable to a concomitant rise in automated external defibrillator use.

Automated external defibrillators (AEDs) are commonly available in public areas and frequently used by both laypeople and emergency medical personnel for patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). Researchers evaluated data from the Amsterdam Resuscitation Study (ARREST) to determine whether survival with favorable neurological outcome in patients with OHCA had increased from 2006 to 2012 in the Netherlands, and if so, what factors might have contributed.

Survival with favorable neurological outcome increased significantly, from 16% in 2006 to 20% in 2012. The survival increase occurred only in the subset of patients with shockable rhythms (in whom survival increased from 29% to 41%). During the same period, use of AEDs for these p…

Reviewing Author

Ali S. Raja, MD, MBA, MPH, FACEP

Disclosures

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesSociety for Academic Emergency Medicine (Board Member); American College of Healthcare Executives – Massachusetts (Board Member)

Ali S. Raja, MD, MBA, MPH, FACEP

Disclosures

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesSociety for Academic Emergency Medicine (Board Member); American College of Healthcare Executives – Massachusetts (Board Member)

Not So Shocking: AEDs Improve Survival from Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest

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Reviewing Author